I’m testing the do-it-all (or nearly all) Nikon P500 monster zoom compact camera (user report coming) and as I was out this evening walking around town, I was surprised to see buried in the backlight scene mode, an in-camera HDR setting. HDR is all the rage these days as photographers dip their artistic toes in these waters, either via bracketing shots and combining them in software after the fact, or by using the increasingly popular in camera HDR modes. For me, a big part of the fun, experimentation and art comes in the post processing as that’s your opportunity to tune up or down the effect. I personally enjoy HDR shots that don’t smack of heavy processing, but which do certainly blow open the dynamic range to levels you can’t get from even the most capable sensors. Nikon joins the ranks with Sony, Canon, Pentax and others by allowing users to dial in the HDR effect while shooting. The shot above is an example.